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Winston-Salem Bans Bird Scooters While Regulations Are Considered

In this Tuesday, July 24, 2018 photo Vatic Kuumba, of Providence, R.I., prepares to ride a Bird electric scooter in downtown Providence. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The City of Winston-Salem has banned Bird scooters from city streets, but they will likely be allowed to return in the future. 

The city's Public Safety Committee voted 3-1 in favor of the ban Monday night.

City Manager Lee Garrity says the scooters may return after officials figure out how they want to regulate them.

The motorized vehicles have been popular with many riders. But Garrity says there have been citizen complaints about scooters being ridden on sidewalks, running red lights, and disrupting traffic.

About 100 Bird scooters appeared suddenly around town in August.

Greensboro banned use of the scooters earlier this month.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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